The Auhtoritarian Neoliberalism of the EU: Legal Form and International Political Economic Sources

In its management of the eurozone crisis, the European Union (EU) reformed its economic policy regime and forged what has become known as the New Economic Governance (NEG). The NEG is constituted by an ensemble of directives, regulations and measures. It consists of the Six-Pack (five regulations and one directive), the Two-Pack (two regulations) and the European Fiscal Compact (or the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG)). Together, they tighten up surveillance and procedures pertaining to the 1996 Growth and Stability Pact. As such, they form a quid pro quo for measures in the field of monetary policy, which attenuated the prohibition against the European Central Bank (ECB) lending to EU institutions and Member States, but which nevertheless became necessary to save Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) against collapse: the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), as well as the Long-Term Refinancing Operations (LTROs) but above all the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) of the ECB.